


Overcoming the Lack of Foresight

by Dunuelos



Series: Harry Potter, Lone Traveler [62]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:57:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunuelos/pseuds/Dunuelos
Summary: Just because I am feeling ornery – I am leaving this as a cliff hanger even though this chapter and the next will be very, very small by comparison. I wonder if anyone can figure out, from what I wrote, the clue which Harry envisioned which allowed Thor to find the correct password to retrieve the information from an Earth movie. I will sit back and snicker whilst you readers rack your brains. I will either update tomorrow – or maybe next week. Depends on what I feel like. (Insert evil laugh.)





	1. The Traveler Recognizes a Problem

The assembled being celebrated the report that they had just been given. For many years, they had been worried about ensuring that their society would survive and the answer had finally been provided.

Before much else could be said, a sudden light appeared before them. Those watching felt astonishment as a figure appeared before them – one which harkened back to the Ancients that they had been allied with so long ago.

The man looked around for a moment before saying, "Er. Hello?"

One of the assembly, the War Master, approached. He stopped three yards away and replied, "Hello, Visitor. Might we know the name of our new guest?"

The man turned and, with respect, bowed his head. "Yes. Hello, my name is Harry Potter." The man paused. "Where exactly am I? And, if it's not too rude – who are you all?"

The figure before him stood tall and said, "I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleets. I am charged with ensuring the safety of our people. You see before you the Asgard High Council."

The man stood there and said thoughtfully, "Asgard. Asgard. Where have I heart that name before?" Those watching waited patiently for the man to think. He had a sudden look of comprehension. "Oh! I remember! You guys are one of the Great Races! I was kind of sad because I never got to meet you!"

Thor asked curiously, "Why is that?"

"Because the time I visited this universe – or at least an analog of it – your people had just mass suicided the year before. None of your people were left." Harry had a sudden idea of why he had arrived where he had.

The listening Asgard stilled at the man's statement. What would cause them to do such a thing?

"What do you know of the circumstances which caused us to act thusly?" Thor asked.

"Because you had finally conceded that the damage from your cloning processes were irreversible and you were about to die out anyway. The decision to allow yourselves to die was to give you a chance to arrange things so that your knowledge and other resources were taken care of in such a way as to not allow them to be misused. Or at least that is what I was told."

The collected Asgard, almost as one, sat down heavily on their chairs as they contemplated what was just said. "Then, perhaps, your arrival is fortuitous. For we, just now, had voted to allow the recently perfected cloning process to become the method by which our society could be maintained."

Harry nodded. "Yes. Even though I was never told exactly what your problems with cloning were, I do believe I can make a guess which might shed some light on it."

"Please do," Thor said.

"The thing your people forgot in all of this is: There is no such thing as a perfect copy. It is, on a quantum level, impossible. Every copied generation will have some degradation from the generation before. Imagine, if you will, if you relied only on a copy as a new source for furthering the copying process. How much loss could you expect after each generation?"

Immediately, the genetic scientists who had brought forth the cloning process had immediately started conferring with each other, trying to plan out how to avoid the circumstances that their visitor had just described.

Harry said, "I do have an idea of something that you should do immediately – if you wouldn't mind me speaking to you privately."

Thor nodded respectfully and the Asgard Council broke up.

Harry stayed with the Asgard for a few weeks, while they came up with a system which should have quite a few more safeguards against the obvious errors which their visitor had alerted them to.

Harry had worked with Thor to create one such safeguard, and only one or two other Asgard had ever been told of it. Thor had agreed to have the information removed from his mind, or at least locked with a password which would prevent the safeguard from being activated prematurely.

Harry had been told, those many thousand travels earlier, that Thor was still a prominent Asgard and so he thought it unlikely that the information could be lost.

Harry had moved on from that visit, hoping he had prevented the loss of such a great society.

However, the safeguards were put in peril due to the replicator problem. The two Asgard who had record of the password within their minds were both lost in the war and, when the issue had come up as a major problem and the need for the safeguard was remembered, there had been no way to retrieve it beyond one very hidden trigger.

* * *

"And in conclusion, I'd like to say …." Jack O'Neill suddenly stopped when he realized he was no longer at the podium and he was somewhere else.

After his discussion with Thor and before he was transported away, O'Neill made a side comment which he thought was witty. With a grin he said, "It's nice to see that _someone_ has transporters just like the movies."

Thor paused for a moment and asked, "Movies? What are movies?"

Jack, with some embarrassment replied, "Er. Stories told through moving pictures. Our people include quite a number whose whole lives revolve around creating fictional stories and attempting to tell these stories through visual means. Many technologies that our story tellers considered unreal by means of our current technology are described by these story tellers. This includes 'Transporting' … the ability to move people or objects through space via an energy transfer."

Thor replied, "Fascinating. Once this current crisis is resolved, I will wish to speak to you of movies."

O'Neill shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

As it happened in many universes, the meeting between the three Goa'uld and the Tauri allowed them to continue their travels through the Stargate with the understanding that any found elsewhere were subject to whatever the System Lords decided to do with them. Those who worked the Stargate program accepted that. It was pretty much what they were already living with anyway.

Suddenly, once the Goa'uld had disappeared through the Stargate, three Asgard appeared. "Greetings, O'Neill. I am to assume that the negotiations were concluded successfully?"

With a grin, Jack nodded. "Pretty much what we were already living with. Thanks for the help, buddy."

Thor nodded. "Now that that matter is concluded, now I wish to speak to you of 'Movies'."

Most of the Stargate personnel were confused but Jack just accepted that they were curious. "Sure. What do you want to know?"

"Can we see an example of such a thing?"

Jack said, "Certainly. What type of story would you like to see?"

Thor paused and looked at his fellow Asgard for a moment before answering. "Do you have a system where one can search for certain types of movies?"

Jack chuckled. "Thor, old buddy, I think you need a lesson on the Internet."

Compared to the Asgard computers, Earth computers – especially those for consumers – were quite primitive. The Internet wasn't all that old and much of what was easily found was porn. But, using a few phrases remembered from all those thousands of years ago, Thor found the Movie he desperately hoped held the answers. He pointed to a name on the screen and said, "Can we see this one?"

Hammond, O'Neill, Carter, and Jackson looked at the name curiously but finally Jack shrugged and said, "Give me a couple hours to see if the local Blockbusters has that."

The Stargate personnel were curious as to why an advanced race such as the Asgard would want to see a movie about an innocent man sent to prison.

* * *

It was three hours later when the Asgard and SG1 were watching the Shawshank Redemption.

The SG1 rather enjoyed having a movie night, even if they didn't know why there were having one. The Asgard sat and watched stoically. The telling of stories in such a way was enjoyable to them, even if they missed many of the cultural references. The basic idea did come through strongly.

At one point, near the end, Jack noticed that the Supreme Commander of the Asgard Fleet had a sudden reaction. He had no idea why because the images on the screen, at that moment, were fairly peaceful. After the final portion was shown, Thor was as he originally seen – he had calmed down.

Thanking his hosts, Thor returned with his people to his ship and ordered a scan of the Sol system for one particular feature.

The Asgard scanners were quire powerful and within four hours, Thor had ordered a course to a particular location and ordered his crew to scan. It was as he expected.

Thor hadn't needed the other Asgard – Asgard ships could be run with one Asgard alone – but he was happy to have his fellow Asgard there as he ordered contact with the High Command.

* * *

Holographically, Thor appeared before the fellow members of the High Council.

"Thor. You requested this meeting of the High Council. What word do you bring?"

"First, of secondary importance, the Tauri have negotiated successfully for inclusion in the Protected Planets Treaty. They have maintained their Stargate with the understanding that any of their people found elsewhere are subject to whatever the Goa'uld might wish to do to them – a matter which seemed to worry them very little."

"I see," Heimdell replied. "That is quite interesting. But it is not of sufficient import to require the full Council to meet. What other matter do you wish to speak of?"

Barely containing his excitement, Thor replied, "I have found the Asgard Genetic Repository which contains genetic material from every one of our people from before we began cloning. What do you wish me to do?"

The High Council was astounded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just because I am feeling ornery – I am leaving this as a cliff hanger even though this chapter and the next will be very, very small by comparison. I wonder if anyone can figure out, from what I wrote, the clue which Harry envisioned which allowed Thor to find the correct password to retrieve the information from an Earth movie. I will sit back and snicker whilst you readers rack your brains. I will either update tomorrow – or maybe next week. Depends on what I feel like. (Insert evil laugh.)


	2. Explanations and Talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, sanabalis and orion kuroi were closest to guessing the password.
> 
> Changed Timeline: S3 Ep 22, Nemesis didn't happen. The Asgard, due to the recovered DNA, suddenly have many more healthy Asgard available to help combat the replicators, whom they are still fighting. As a result, they did not take over Thor's ship – but they are still in dire straights.
> 
> The Asgard (those that have received treatment – a work in progress) no longer look like Roswell Aliens. They also no longer look as they originally did. The sheer amount of information that must be put into their new bodies, having lived so long, required a fix to include both use of their original DNA plus some of the modifications they had created along the way.
> 
> As a result, the new Asgard still have larger heads, but they have recovered their taller builds as well as their basic physical strength. Think Megamind with whiter skin and a more normal body, if a bit skinny compared to humans (a little less skinny than the Asgard from the past that was found in the series). They are no longer genderless and can, once again, reproduce. They just currently find the process disagreeable because they haven't done it in 30,000 years. The women would have to be altered to allow them to birth babies with bigger heads, requiring them to have larger hips and, thus, larger breasts to balance the hips. The women would also have to be kinda strong.
> 
> They will soon have to ask the Tau'ri for help because, although they now have healthy bodies, they are inexperienced in dealing with hormones, sex, raising babies, and a host of things that they left long ago but are now required again. Even marriage counseling.
> 
> This snippet just explains my plot bunny. I don't have the patience to write a whole story based on a completely different premise for SG1. The new premise is: The Space Problems are much more easily dealt with because the Asgard now have many more healthy people who can help Earth deal with the Milky Way's Goa'uld issues, but the Asgard are desperately in need of Earth's expertise in normal life.
> 
> The new Stargate/Asgard Universe would involve a lot of comedy, they way I see it, much sexual innuendo, cultural confusions, with some space battles mixed in. If anyone wants to write it PLEASE do. It would be hilarious.

SG1 was in a conference room reviewing the details of their last mission when an alarm blared: "Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Security to Gate Room!"

SG1 looked at each other and, dropping what they were doing, rushed out to the Control Room to see what was happening.

Upon entering the room, Jack's eyes widened. "Hey! That's Thor!"

Hammond looked at his 2IC and asked, "Are you certain?"

O'Neill shrugged. "Looks to be."

Hammond nodded. "For some reason, we're picking up a discharge coming from him. Until we know what it is, we have to be cautious."

Jack nodded. "Maybe I can go talk to him?"

Hammond considered it and then nodded.

Jack quickly rushed out and, ordering the guards to let him through, entered the Gate Room. Upon seeing him, the figure called out, "O'Neill. Greetings."

Jack motioned for the guards to relax. "Thor, old buddy. What are you doing here?"

"I have come for assistance from your people."

Jack's eyes widened a moment. "Sure! You helped us out a bit last year. But first I gotta know: Do you know why our sensors are reading a large energy output from you?"

Thor nodded. "Yes. I am using an imaging device to show the form you are more familiar with. I no longer look the same and did not want to alarm you. If you prefer, I can turn off the device."

Jack looked at the Control Room and saw Hammond nod. "Yeah. Please. The boss is a bit nervous."

Thor nodded and, with one hand, pushed a button on the device on his other wrist. Suddenly, Thor no longer looked like a Roswell Alien. Instead, he was about 6' 1", with somewhat pasty white skin (as though he got minimal sun – he didn't look unhealthy though) and a largish, round head which was bald.

Jack's eyes widened. "Woah! What the hell happened to you?"

Thor gave a small smile, which looked odd on the face. "We have corrected the issues that were causing our race to die out. Actually, it was partially thanks to your hospitality that we were able to do so. The key was in the Movie Shawshank Redemtion."

Jack glanced back to the Control Room and Hammond signaled that the Energy field was gone. With that and the visitor's knowledge of the movie, Jack ordered the guards to stand down and walked up to Thor. "How did we help with fixing your genetic problems?" he asked curiously.

"Perhaps we can sit together and I can explain?"

Jack shrugged. "Sure." He motioned for Thor to follow and led him back to the conference room, meeting the rest of the team and the General on the way.

When they were all sitting down, Thor started explaining. "Do you remember when we were last here that I requested to see the movie with the title of 'Shawshank Redemption'?"

Jack nodded.

"What I did not tell you was that this is not the first time I have met one of your people," Thor said.

"From what I understand, the Asgard were active with the Vikings a thousand years ago. We already knew that," Daniel commented.

Thor shook his head. "That is not what I meant. I mean that you were not the first modern Human from this era that we have met. The first time we met a Human was 30,000 years ago."

The room was shocked silent. Sam finally asked, "How can that be?"

"Long ago, when we first decided to begin to perpetuation of our people with cloning, a man appeared before us, as though by transportation, as we use today. However, we later learned that it was no technology that brought him. He explained to us that he had the ability to perform magic."

At that Sam scoffed. "There is no such thing as magic."

Thor cocked his head. "Perhaps here and now, that is true."

The room was confused. "What do you mean, 'perhaps here and now'?" Daniel asked.

"Are you familiar with the concept of the Multiverse?" Thor asked the room.

Heads nodded around the room.

"This visitor came from an Alternate Dimension which contained a subgroup of Humans able to manipulate energy in ways that could only be described as magic. As a force, magic seems to defy the laws of nature but this wizard, which is what he called his type of human, said that the Laws of Nature did have an effect on magic. We concluded it was a force that we were unsuited for, but which does exist. He was born on Earth in the year 1980. In his Universe, he performed a ritual which ended badly, causing him to become disassociated from his own Universe. He became a dimensional traveler."

Eyes around the room were wide at this explanation. It was beyond what any of them could conceive of – except, perhaps, Daniel Jackson. He was too familiar with myths and legends to discount the idea out of hand.

"And what did you learn from him?" Hammond asked.

"He described meeting a special group of people from his home world – or an alternate version anyway – which were instrumental in the overcoming of the Goa'uld System Lords from the Milky Way Galaxy, the Wraiths from the Pegusus Galaxy, the Replicators that we face in the Ida Galaxy, and which now confronted a new enemy – or a very old one, depending on one's viewpoint – which these people now faced. He named this core group which started these miraculous achievements as 'SG1 of Stargate Command'."

Once again, the room was shocked speechless.

"Yes. Your group. When he met them – an alternate version of you – they had control of some technology that our people, the Asgard gifted you – before we committed mass suicide."

Teal'c, at this, was startled. "Mass suicide? What would bring you to perform such an act, Thor of Asgard?"

Thor nodded in acknowledgement to the Jaffe and replied, "In that world, we finally realized we could not overcome the issues we had due to the use of cloning as a method of continuing our species. Due to a number of accidents and circumstances, we lost the original DNA of our people and, due to entropy and other factors, our deterioration due to the inability to prevent errors in the cloning process left us physically weak and ill, ripe pickings for this new enemy. In our hubris, the very process that we hoped would continue our society caused its downfall."

Sam Carter asked, "How did he help you?"

Thor replied, "This man, named Harry Potter, born in the United Kingdom of your world, described the problem as it had been described to him. He made a suggestion, which he then helped implement. While our scientists worked to prevent the losses that we now knew were possible, he helped me to create a repository of genetic material which contained the DNA of our people before we began mass cloning. This information was locked away with a password system and was out of mind. Unfortunately, the two Asgard which had the password to unlock the information in my mind were both killed in our conflict with the Replicators and the placement of the repository lost. With any hope of recovery gone, we concentrated on other means of fixing the problem. Until O'Neill said a word to me which cause me to remember the hints that Harry Potter left with us."

"What was the word?" Jack asked curiously.

"Movie."

"Movie?" Jack was confused.

"This Harry Potter used something that was envisioned in the movie Shawshank Redemption as a method which would hide the repository but also allow it to be easily found when the password was given. The password came from the movie."

"What was the password?"

"It was a phrase: 'You'll find a rock that has no Earthly Business in a New England Hayfield'."

General Hammond said, "That's quite a complex password."

Thor nodded. "But within it was the hint as to the location of the repository."

Jack asked with a bit of humor, "So … what? Did you bury it beneath a hayfield?"

Thor chuckled – an odd sound to the Humans. "No. But we used a principle very much like it to hide the repository. First we collected genetic samples from all of our people, sufficient to clone ten bodies each so as to have enough backups to ensure a simple accident would not cause it to be lost. We froze these within containers using liquid nitrogen. Placing these containers within five larger containers, we replaced the air within each one with liquid nitrogen as well, ensuring the entire system remained frozen. These five larger containers were placed in an even larger container, which was filled with liquid helium, which of course is a gas which will not chemically react with other elements. This very large container was then covered in two feet of lead. This made it impervious to scanning externally and made it impervious to any radiation which might hit the genetic samples and cause unlooked for mutation."

Sam Carter was the most astounded. "That's quite a lot of safeguards!"

Thor replied, "Yes. Harry Potter explained that Humans liked to go for overkill, as he called it, when it came to building things. While the sheer number of steps we took were unnecessary, the likelihood of it failing was near zero percent."

Sam nodded. "I can see that. So where did you put it?"

"You are familiar with the asteroid belt which exists in this system?"

Each of the people there, sans Teal'c nodded. It was common knowledge – and unremarkable.

"This belt contains objects which are comprised of normal rock, with elements of carbon, nickel, and other metals, and it has been there for billions of years. However, like the rocks in that movie, none of them were made of volcanic basalt. The crystalline structure is quite common on the surface of a planet but very uncommon in space. And so, this very large container covered in lead was then covered in volcanic discharges from your own planet. This created an asteroid of considerable size which would be unremarkable unless one looked for it. We replaced a similar body within that belt with our repository. As such, it would be unlikely to be accidentally destroyed as the orbit of most asteroids is quite stable. Harry Potter helped remove the information, ensuring it could be retrieved later as necessary. It was through no fault of his that the retrieval information was lost.

"After seeing the movie, I had my ship search the asteroid belt for one which was made of volcanic basalt. There was only one. It was also opaque to our sensors. Thus, it had to be the Asgard Genetic Repository. It has proven to be the salvation of my people."

The Stargate personnel sat back to digest this story. It was quite remarkable. Finally, General Hammond asked, "So what now?"

"Now? With our survival once again assured, we can now devote more resources to overcoming our own enemy, the Replicators, as well as assisting your people. One of yours was instrumental in saving us. And so we will help ensure your own survival. We will, as appropriate, help with technology we have developed so that, in this universe very much like the one that Harry Potter described, your people will rise up to be considered one of the Great Races, the Fifth Race, the Tau'ri, genetic descendents of the Ancient Asgard. First however, we need your help."

Jack asked, "What can we do for you?"

Thor sighed. "We need a new way to think. It is obvious that your people have the ability to think of new and unusual solutions for problems that had not previously been considered. We need that now. If we are to defeat the Replicators, we need to change how we fight them. And we have been locked in struggle so long that we have lost the ability to do this. Help up defeat them, as the SG1 did in the universe that Harry Potter described, and it shall allow us to begin working directly with you in your own endeavors."

Hammond said, "Let me call the President to verify it – I'll need to present it to him as this is a major advance for us – but I do believe this is the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership."

Thor nodded. "Tell your leader these things as well: We will work with your organization, commanded by you, with these people as our liaisons. We will not accept the oversight of this place to be placed with the people or groups named as follows: Kinsey, Maybourne, NID, Bauer. These were names we were warned against – 30,000 years ago."

A bit startled, Hammond nodded.

"Before you call your leader, I do have one more area I need assistance with. However, I would ask that the females leave the room as this is a delicate situation."

Curious, but unwilling to create a scene, Janet and Sam left the room. Only the men were left.

Thor looked at the men around him and said, "A situation has newly come up since we have repaired the damage to our bodies. When the male Asgard wake up, we are experiencing, for unknown reasons, tumescence. This is also occurring, for some of us, when we spend time around the female Asgard. In researching this, it was decided that this condition is a Sexual Urge. Unfortunately, we do not have the recent experience in how to overcome this situation as we haven't had such relationships for many millennia. For some of us, it is happening so much that it is creating a painful circumstances. What do you humans do when this happens to you?"

The men looked at their visitors with wide eyes. No one had expected this question. Finally, hesitantly, Jack O'Neill asked, "Have you tried masturbation?"

Thor look at O'Neill and said, "Masturbation? What is this?"

The General, smirking, looked at his SG1 team leader and said, "Yes, Colonel. Please explain."

Jack looked at Hammond wide-eyed and said, as he stood up, "No! NO! Send me against 100 Jaffe! Send me to infiltrate a Goa'uld base! Send me to on a suicide mission to rescue another team! But I will NOT give The Talk to the Asgard. Besides! That's the job of someone in the family who is mature and responsible! General? I hope you know that we all look up to you as a kind of father figure. So if anyone should give The Talk – it should be you. Me and the guys have something to do … like planning an Assault on some planet far away. Bye!" O'Neill rushed out, quickly followed by the other men, except General Hammond.

Hammond was both amused by the Colonel's reaction – and annoyed that he was left with the bag. As Thor looked at him curiously, Hammond decided he'd be getting revenge … somehow.


End file.
